We are a global team of experts, with more than 20 years experience in waste management. We established the D-Waste website in order to provide our services in a unique way.

We believe that sound waste management is a key-issue for the sustainability of the urban ecosystems.

We have learned that the bigger the city the more challenging the waste management is.We have worked in more than 20 countries, with different cultural, economic and social conditions.

Through our experiences we have understood that waste management solutions are only local. And although there are global principles, no city or country will face waste management challenges unless local human resources are prepared for that. And this is what we want to do through D-Waste.

D-Waste provides fully customised, affordable and high quality waste management services through a global network of experts that are available to support clients worldwide. We do believe that waste management solutions will be finally developed by local stakeholders, institutions, and human resources. For that purpose our aim is to provide suitable consulting to those who need it most.

D-Waste's philosophy and approach is simple: we want to make waste management consulting easily accessible and affordable for all those who need it. In that framework we deliver different services with the same concept: easy access and cost-effectiveness.

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Jackson Goh, Senior General Manager in Business Development, in Keppel Integrated Engineering Pte Ltd, speaks to D-Waste about his company, WtE opportunities, and provides an insight of waste management actualities in Asia.

1. We know that Keppel Seghers is very active in Asia, and that it has a major experience of the waste management situation in China. Please provide us with a brief description of the status and perspectives of waste management in Asia. Many countries in Asia are still relying on open dumping and sanitary landfill to dispose of their municipal solid waste because these methods are convenient and seemingly inexpensive. But they can potentially lead to severe environmental pollution. For example, leachate from open dumping can contaminate surrounding water bodies, affecting the health of the nearby communities. In China, up to 80% of total treated municipal solid waste is disposed by landfill. Due to rising awareness of the harmful emissions from landfills, increasingly, many cities in China, especially the more affluent cities, are adopting waste incineration.

With China’s urban population expected to reach one billion people by 2050, the Chinese government recognises the need for sound policies for waste management. It has stepped up its efforts to improve the regulatory framework for waste management, and introduced subsidies and corporate tax exemptions for waste-to-energy technologies.

2. We know that your company is working around several projects. Please give us the highlights of 2-3 projects on which you are working right now.In Qatar, we completed the construction of the Domestic Solid Waste Management Centre (DSWMC) in October 2011 and will operate and maintain it for 20 years. This is the first integrated solid waste treatment facility in the Middle East, and one of the few in the world to combine several waste treatment technologies in one location. The facility includes state-of-the-art separation of waste into different streams so that the waste will be effectively treated with the appropriate technology. The waste streams, broadly, are: • Organic waste, which is conveyed to the Anaerobic Digestion Composting plant to be composted to produce soil conditioners for use in agriculture and landscaping;• Recyclables such as plastics, ferrous and non-ferrous metals, which are separated and sent for recycling; and• Residual waste that cannot be recycled nor composted, known as Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF), which is sent to the Waste-to-Energy (WTE) plant to be combusted to recover energy and generate electricity. Lastly, the by-products of the combustion process - incinerator bottom ash and fly-ash removed from cleaned flue gases - are treated in-situ at the DSWMC and disposed in engineered landfills. By this stage, the waste volume is reduced by more than 95%.Currently, the DSWMC can treat up to 2,300 tonnes of mixed domestic solid waste per day. It is also able to achieve recovery and recycling of 90% of ferrous and non-ferrous metals, and 50% of plastics which improves Qatar’s national recycling rate. In Singapore, Keppel has built and is operating the Keppel Seghers Tuas Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Plant. Built on only 1.6 hectares, it is one of the most compact WTE facilities in the world. It has the capacity to treat 800 tonnes of solid waste a day to generate 22 MW of green energy, and can achieve a landfill diversion rate of up to 90%. In the UK, we are building the Greater Manchester Energy-from-Waste (EfW) Plant in two phases. When completed, Phase 1 will also supply steam to the neighbouring chemical complex. The project has secured its environmental permit from the Environment Agency in May 2011.

3. Recently the Chinese Government announced a 150 billion dollars investment program for new energy facilities in China, for the next five years. Some people express hesitation regarding incineration performance in China. Some others consider it as a hug step forward. Which is your opinion on this?The move towards WTE is an encouraging progression from open dumping and poorly-managed landfills. But understandably, people will have concerns about pollution caused by poor management of by-products such as flue gas and fly ash.On one hand, the country will need to set and enforce stringent emission standards to ensure waste incineration delivers all the promised benefits without causing additional pollution. It is also important to engage proven solutions providers to help build capabilities in the country.On the other hand it will also take some time and effort to engage people to give them a better understanding of WTE technologies. This will help to allay fears arising from unfamiliarity with new solutions.

4. Give us an idea of the company’s structure and achievements (turn over, activities with emphasis on the environment part)Keppel Seghers, a subsidiary of Keppel integrated Engineering, is a global provider of environmental technology and services with a strong track record in waste and water treatment projects. Our scope of activities includes consultancy, design, engineering, construction as well as operations and maintenance. To date, Keppel Seghers has executed more than 350 water and wastewater projects and more than 100 waste-to-energy projects in more than 25 countries worldwide.In China, Keppel Seghers has been providing imported WTE technologies for more than a decade. Over the years, we have successfully developed a combustion grate that is proven to be especially suited to treat low-calorific municipal solid waste in China and other international markets where the waste is similar.We will continue to bring value-added solutions to the Chinese market. For example, we have started the manufacturing of our proprietary “tumbling action” combustion grates in China. The locally fabricated and assembled grates are of the same high quality and reliability as the imported combustion grates that Keppel has been known for in China. We believe this will offer a cost-effective alternative to other imported combustion grates, and will cater to the needs of the Chinese WTE market.

5. According to your experience what is the future of gasification and pyrolysis regarding their commercial status?Both gasification and pyrolysis methods have received attention as possible alternatives to mass burn incineration in recent years. However, the financial feasibility and environmental benefits compared to incineration remain inconclusive for these methods. We have yet to see compelling data on their emission performances, and the higher investment cost for these methods could present hurdles to their market acceptance.

Roxanne Mankin Cason, Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Cason Family Foundation, introduce CFF's Annual Conference for the Informal Sector Recyclers among with CGI Commitment and new Foundation for Sustainable WasteResources.

Roxanne Mankin Cason is collaborating with the Clinton Global Initiative to coordinate an innovative initiative to empower sustainable programs for women, waste, and scavenging in developing countries. She served as President of Kona Special Air, Hawaii and Texas, Trustee of Save The Children Federation, Incorporated ,Chief Executive Officer of Cason Family Foundation and Vice-Chair of Save the Children Education Leadership Council.

Q1: Next week, on September 21 and 22, you organize for the third time the Cason Conference for the Informal Sector Recyclers. This year the title is “ The Informal Waste Sector: Ways Forward in the Context of Globalization and Waste Management - Utilizing the Technology and Interconnectivity Potential”. Since the overall title is really promising and innovative for a waste conference, explain us what are the expectations from this conference and what type of interventions are prepared.

The Cason Family Foundation hosts its third annual informal waste sector conference in New York City on September 21-22, 2012.The conference brings together three main sponsors. The Cason Family Foundation, Esri, and your organization, D-Waste. Each year, we look at some current issues, we highlight future trends as we see them. This year we have presentations on what we call Big Data and innovative approaches and platforms that we think we help meet waste challenges that are and will be present for municipalities, regional planning institutions and local citizens.The platform data base which is being designed by D-waste and built and hosted by Esri, the foremost geographical information services company, will provide platforms and analytics to support decision makers related to enhanced waste management solutions.

We shall showcase some of these platforms and demonstrate how they can be used and discuss some innovations using mobile apps to enable citizens to actively advance awareness and action for better waste management.We hope to demonstrate to representatives of the World Bank, InterAmerican Development, UN, Gates and others the value of this innovative work. through the use of mobile apps which D-Waste is developing, we want to collect data, and enable citizens to be able to connect with those in municipal waste management.Through data collection and subsequently developed data base, we expect to provide benchmarks and comparable information all in one data base thereby enabling developments banks that drive regional infrastructure to have more efficient processes as their need for data will be greatly facilitated.Lastly, we want to advance our perspective that the informal waste sector is a valued partner in waste management irrespective of the immediate challenges claimed by some in working with the informal sector and we want to advance that the informal waste sector is an intricate and essential player in the supply chain. Our presenters have experience in many different aspects related to these issues. Some are advisors, some organizers and some are formal waste management. One of our speakers runs all waste management for the mega city, Rio de Janeiro. And we have a presence from the private sector as well.

Q2: Last years, there is a lot of research and several projects worldwide regarding the informal recyclers – still we are far away from saying that we have found ways to utilize their recycling contributions and integrate them in waste management. According your understanding and approach, is there a missing link or component to the current approaches or it is just a matter of time to get things more mature? We have heard you many times speaking about the importance of the linkages between informal recyclers and supply chains, can you provide more details about that?

This is a critical question and thank you for asking. My personal, and I emphasize, personal perspective is that there are basically three issues that require attention. Let's start with public policy. governments and policy makers as well as formal waste management need to agree to promote public policy that promotes the informal waste sector as important contributors to waste management; to positive environmental impact; and a source of poverty reduction. brazil is exemplary in its approach. Different countries have various approaches some due to enlightened action, some due to legal challenges; some due to obvious need; some due to political pressure all for inclusion. Secondly, the informal sector is doing an excellent job of organizing. With the help of NGOs and other organizations including the World Bank and the IDB, NGOs such as WIEGO out of Harvard; Libby McDonald from MIT; AVINA; CEMPRE in Brazil; APE in Egypt; Chintan, India etc. much progress is underway. They are organizing, sharing best practices, coordinating their demands for inclusion, building their brand and creating a movement towards inclusion Lastly, i think there is an awareness, desire and need to capitalize on their entrepreneurial skills. This is the new frontier for the informal waste sector. How do they organize, develop enterprise, deliver consistently and at scale. Volume and consistency are critical components required to participate with the formal waste sector. As the demand side increases its requirements for secondary raw materials, the informal waste sector must be positioned to deliver to that market which is local but global.

Q3: You are very well known as a Clinton Global Initiative active member and we know that your last commitment was really appreciated by President Clinton. Please describe us how this commitment goes on and what was the added value it brought.

The first CGI COMMITTMENT had three basic components. The first was to host an annual informal waste sector conference to bring the sectors together. The second was to build a knowledge hub to provide a platform for all sectors to share information and best practices.The third component was to build awareness. I think the added value was the concerted focus we brought to the space on our perception regarding enterprise and best practice sharing of information. We introduced this sector to the membership Of CGI. The issue gained a platform outside of itself and broadened the general awareness of the conditions and the issues. I believe we have connected the dots in ways that have been useful to allthe players in the sector.

Q4: Last but not least, give us a broad overview of the new foundation you do prepare, its mission and vision as well as the partnerships involved. From what we have heard, it sounds very ambitious…

We are launching a new foundation called The Foundation for Sustainable WasteResources. Our vision is to promulgate a view that waste is a resource and has value. As a way to understand this, we are developing platforms of data and attendant analytics to use this big data to enable better utilization of the waste. If we can count it, measure it, we can begin to evaluate what and how to do something about it. First, philosophically, we think waste management is a human right just like one's right to clean air and clean water. We have a right that our planet and our neighborhood are clear of waste. It's better for our health, it's better for our environment and it offers economically viable business opportunities. We expect to work with academic institutions, research centers and many organizations to promote safe waste management, solid innovations and to advance leapfrog possibilities for the sector. The mapping will be open source for a great deal of information. We plan to create customized platforms and layers of data to support solutions and innovations in addition to the garden variety waste management solutions which serve quite nicely. Our intent, however, is to evangelize new ideas to solve waste management challenges with approaches that are sustainable socially, environmentally and economically. Our research and data collection will allow us to provide benchmarking on waste management; index municipalities and their success in managing their waste and showcase best practices And partner to empower communities to find appropriate innovations and solutions. The foundation is supported by Esri, a foremost GIS provider; D-Waste, a digital waste management advisory group and The Cason Family Foundation. The CEO will be Jill Boughton, a seasoned executive with 24 years in product design and innovation at Proctor and Gamble. She joins the Foundation in January, 2013. We are excited with this group and have great expectations that we can bring new ideas and assist in driving solutions and a rethink to waste as a resource.

ORBIT 2012: Anne Trémier is talking to D-Waste about hosting the event and its outcomes

Organic waste management is one of the issues that concern more and more the waste management world. One of the most important conferences, which is organized every year in different parts of the globe, is the “Orbit Conference”. This June, the Orbit Conference has took place in Rennes, France, gathering hundreds of experts and professionals from all over the planet.

Anne Trémier, Research Engineer of Irstea – UR GERE Rennes, which hosted the Conference this year, gives an interview to D-waste regarding this event.

Indeed the Orbit Conference is one of the most important of its kind. Can you give us a brief description of it in numbers? (number of participants, from how many countries, the number of speeches, etc.)

The 8th International Conference ORBIT 2012 “Global assessment for organic resources and waste management” was held in Rennes, France, from June 12th to June 14th 2012. The Conference was organised by the National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture (Irstea, formerly Cemagref) and the European Compost Network (ECN), with the financial support of Suez Environment, Novamont, Veolia Environment, Idex, Rennes Metropole and the Brittany Region.

About 260 delegates – academics, researchers, professionals and students – travelled to France, from 36 countries, to attend this international conference. During the three core days of the Conference, the delegates had the opportunity to learn about the latest research and policy developments on all aspects of organic resources and waste management, in over 190 oral and poster presentations.

What were the main outcomes of the Conference?

Following the ORBIT conferences tradition, ORBIT2012 dealt with all aspects of organic resources and waste management with a special focus on the assessment of technologies with environmental, social and economical points of view. A large place was given to climate change and decision making tools between waste management options. Traditional themes as energy recovery, biological treatments and also mechanical biological treatment still remain central issues that had to be discussed in order to improve technologies and product quality, especially for land application. More local approaches such as home and community composting were also discussed as they may represent solutions that have to be considered in an integrated organic waste management plan which includes prevention. Special emphasis was also laid to EU policies and strategies for sustainable management of organic resources and waste.

What are the main outcomes concerning the organic resource management?

Energy recovery remains one of the main issues when considering valorization of organic resources. Scientific works about anaerobic digestion are thus numerous.

The best mixture of waste in order to optimize biogas yield is a key issue as well as the way to choose the best location for a centralized treatment plant on a territory.

Nevertheless even considering first the question of energy recovery, the final valorization of organic resources through organic matter and nutrients return to soil keeps crucial for environment and agriculture. As a consequence number of communication dealt with compost and digestate quality and use. The European question of end-of-waste criteria was largely debated along the conference. Moreover examples of quality assurance systems for the production of composts and digestates were presented. Considering the agronomic use of these products, interesting scientific communication were given concerning the behavior of organic matter and nitrogen in soil after their spreading. The knowledge of these behaviors could lead the way to manage biological treatment in order to produce organic amendment and fertilizers that correspond to specific agronomic needs.

Lastly the environmental impacts of biological treatment were largely discussed. A first issue concerns the way to assess these impacts. If Life cycle analysis seems to be a promising tool for environmental assessment of organic waste management system, lack of data, such as gaseous emissions fluxes, limits its reliable use as decision tool. Thus a lot of work, especially concerning composting, are centered on environmental date measurement (GHG, odors measurement, etc) and emissions minimization.

What are the main points that emerged concerning the global issue of food waste management?

Studies of the amount of food wastage are emerging in a lot of countries, particularly in Europe but also in large developed cities as Hong-Kong. It appears, as an example in Germany and UK, that households are responsible of more than 50 % of the millions of tons of Food waste (around 11 MT par year in Germany and 16 MT in UK). This issue of households food wastage has to be carefully addressed through prevention incentive actions. Examples of minimization plan through households education have been exposed during the conference. It appears that in a lot of cases 50 % of households food wastage in developed countries could be avoided. Concerning the part of food waste that cannot be avoided (food preparation waste, collective canteens, etc.), research focuses on the best way to collect and treat them with centralized or decentralized processes.

What is expected to be the future of composting in developing countries?

In developing countries, composting still represents a way to valorize waste organic matter with simple and cost effective process. Example of eco-plants in Philippines have been given during the conference. In these areas the eco-plants is a sustainable project that gives work to inhabitants, enables them to sort and recycle a large part of the MSW components, avoids a large quantity of waste in landfill and produces a compost that inhabitants can use for agriculture. As discussed during the conference composting as still to be promoted in developing countries as it is a robust and easy to handle process by local populations.

“The internet of Bins”- A Workshop for the LIFE EWAS Project

On 14th of July 2016, D-WASTE organized the workshop titles “The internet of Bins” in order to disseminate the LIFE EWAS Project and the first available results of the Project.

The workshop took place in the town hall of Agia Paraskevi, waste managers and local authorities’ representatives had the opportunity to get informed on the results of EWAS project, and how the use of ICT technologies can potentially optimize waste management through improving collection system and cost reduction. More particularly, it was presented the deployment of the sensors in the two pilot areas of the project, namely in Seville, Spain and Chania, Greece, as well as the first results from the exploitation of the sensors data. According to the presentation of LIPASAM (Public Cleaning company of Seville) the data use can optimize the waste collection which can be resulted in 48% reduction of the waste collection cost. DEDISA (Solid Waste Authority of Chania), presented the first results from the monitoring of sensors as well as how citizens experience the deployment of the sensors in their bins. In the event it was also presented the under development EWAS social platform which teach citizens how to recycle and improve their recycling. At the end of the event a productive discussion took place.